James Joyce's 'Ulysses' is one of the most important works of modernist literature. The book chronicles the passage of Stephen Dedalus and Leopold Bloom through Dublin during an ordinary day, 16 June 1904 (the day of Joyce's first date with his future wife, Nora Barnacle).

The definitive adaptation of the novel is widely considered to be RTÉ's full dramatised production – originally broadcast in 1982 to celebrate the centenary of Joyce's birth, and totalling 29 hours and 45 minutes in duration.

To listen, click on the embedded audio for each of the 18 chapters below. You can also download or subscribe to the book as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or RTÉ.ie/radio.

Explore all of RTÉ's James Joyce and 'Ulysses' content at rte.ie/ulysses.


Episode 1 - Telemachus  

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The action of Ulysses opens at 8 am on 16 June 1904 in the Martello Tower in Sandycove, which is about 10 kilometres south of Dublin. Three young men are living there - Stephen Dedalus, a moody poet who returned some months previously from a stay in Paris; Buck Mulligan, a witty medical student and friend of Stephen; and Haines, an English friend of Mulligan at Oxford and an Irish language enthusiast. Mulligan is shaving and is joined by Stephen whom he reproves for his failure to comply with his dying mother's wishes. Stephen already feels guilty about this. While they are at breakfast, which Mulligan has prepared, an old woman delivers milk. Mulligan then decides to go for a swim and all three leave the Tower. On the way to the bathing place Haines and Stephen talk about Stephen's theory of Hamlet. Before Stephen leaves to teach at a nearby school Mulligan asks him for two pence for a pint and the key to the Tower. Stephen wonders if he will be welcome to stay there much longer, even though it was he who paid the rent.

In the Homeric correspondence, Telemachus, in the absence of his father Odysseus, sees his wealth being usurped by others just as Mulligan and Haines are taking over the Tower from Stephen.

Ulysses: Download/Stream/Subscribe  |  Reading Ulysses: Episode 1


Episode 2 - Nestor

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Stephen is teaching history and poetry in a school in Dalkey, which is about a mile south of Sandycove. He has little interest in or control over his pupils because of his inferior position in the school and the substantial fees their parents pay. Lessons end at ten o'clock when there is a hockey match. Mr Deasy, the headmaster, then pays Stephen his very modest wages. Stephen promises to use his influence with two editors to have Mr Deasy's letter on foot and mouth disease published. Mr Deasy believes that the disease can be cured but in this, as in most of his other assertions, he is mistaken. Stephen understands this and thinks ironically 'Is this old wisdom?’.

In the Homeric correspondence Telemachus/Stephen goes to Nestor/Deasy for news of his father and is told of the siege of Troy.

Ulysses: Download/Stream/Subscribe  |  Reading Ulysses: Episode 2


Episode 3 - Proteus

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It is now 11 o'clock and Stephen is on his way to deliver Mr Deasy's two letters and to meet Mulligan and Haines in the public house called The Ship at 12.30 pm. He has some time to spare and goes for a walk on the strand at Sandymount. One of the problems that Stephen thinks of is that he perceives the world principally through his eyes (the visible) and his ears (the audible) and also through time and space. His eyes perceive the signatures of things, not their reality. He closes his eyes to find out how he will perceive reality through the audible only. Two women come on to the beach and Stephen assumes that they are midwives and that one has a misbirth with a trailing navel cord in her bag. He then thinks that our navel cords link us through our ancestors all the way back to Eve. His Aunt Sara lives nearby and Stephen wonders if he should call on her. He walks on and he decides to postpone the visit. Instead he turns towards the Pigeon House. A joke in French about a pigeon and the Holy Ghost reminds him of the Fenian, Kevin Egan, and his son, Patrice, in Paris and, by association, of the telegram he received there telling him that his mother was dying. Two gipsy cockle-pickers and their dog come into view and as they pass they note his Latin Quarter hat. The rhythm of the tide bring some lines of poetry into his mind and he writes them down on a piece of paper, which he tears off one of Mr Deasy’s letters. He wonders if anyone is watching him and lies back to look at the sun. He picks his nose and feels that there is someone behind him. When he looks around he sees a three-master sailing up the river to the docks.

In the Odyssey, Telemachus/Stephen visits Menelaus who had pinned down the ever-changing Proteus and, in that way, had managed to get news of Odysseus and his travels.

Ulysses: Download/Stream/Subscribe  |  Reading Ulysses: Episode 3


Episode 4 - Calypso  

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Leopold Bloom is a Jew who lives at No. 7 Eccles Street in Dublin's north inner city. It is eight o'clock and he is preparing breakfast for his wife, Molly, who is still in bed. He goes around the corner to buy a pork kidney for his own breakfast. When he comes back he finds the post in the hall, a letter for him and a card for Molly from their daughter Milly, who was fifteen the previous day, and also a letter addressed in a bold hand to 'Mrs Marion Bloom’. He brings Molly her breakfast and is told that the letter is from Boylan who is organising a concert tour in which Molly will be one of the principal singers. Bloom suspects that Boylan and Molly are about to start an affair. Boylan is to call with the concert programme that afternoon, something that will worry Bloom all day. Molly, who reads light erotic novels, asks him to get her another book by Paul de Kock. While eating his breakfast Bloom reads Milly’s letter and decides to visit her in Mullingar, where she is working in a photographer’s shop. He goes to the lavatory and thinks about getting ready for Paddy Dignam’s funeral.

The Homeric correspondence is with Odysseus/Bloom who has been held captive by his lover Calypso/Molly until the gods order her to release him.

Ulysses: Download/Stream/Subscribe  |  Reading Ulysses: Episode 4


Episode 5 - Lotus Eaters

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Bloom has come about a mile from his home to Sir John Rogerson's Quay. It is about ten o'clock and although it is not indicated in the text, Bloom goes by a roundabout way to Westland Row post office to collect a letter left poste restate under his assumed name, Henry Flower. He is conducting a half-hearted affair by letter with Martha Clifford, which he knows will never come to anything. He meets C.P. M’Coy who annoys him by comparing their respective wives’ singing abilities. In a quiet street nearby Bloom reads Martha’s letter in which she encloses a yellow flower. Bloom puts the flower in his waistcoat pocket and goes into All Hallows church where Mass is ending.  In Sweny’s chemist shop he buys a cake of lemon soap and has a prescription for skin lotion made up for Molly. Outside, Bantam Lyons waylays him and asks to see his newspaper. Bloom offers it to him saying that he was going to throw it away, thus, innocently, giving a tip for a horse called Throwaway running in the Gold Cup at Ascot that day. Later, this will get him in to a lot of trouble. We leave Bloom as he makes his way towards the Turkish baths in Leinster Street.

Here the Homeric correspondence is to the land of the lotus-eaters, where Odysseus' men, when they eat the lotus, forget their responsibilities and want only to remain where they are and have to be forced back aboard their ship.

Ulysses: Download/Stream/Subscribe  |  Reading Ulysses: Episode 5


Episode 6 - Hades  

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It is now eleven o'clock and in order to attend Paddy Dignam's funeral Bloom has travelled about a mile, most likely by tram, to Newbridge Avenue in Sandymount, which is within a few hundred yards of the beach, where we found Stephen in episode three. In the funeral procession Bloom shares a carriage with Martin Cunningham, Jack Power and Simon Dedalus, who is Stephen’s father. Here, as ever, Bloom is the outsider. This is shown in a number of small ways, such as always being addressed as 'Bloom’ while the others use their first names, and their habit of rudely cutting across him when Bloom tries to enter the conversation. In the cemetery at Glasnevin Bloom looks with some detachment on the brief service in the chapel. Ned Lambert speaks of a whip around for Dignam’s family and we later find that Bloom contributes five shillings, which he can ill-afford. At the graveside Hynes, the reporter, while noting the names of the mourners, asks Bloom, whom he knows to be a Jew, what his Christian name is. On the way out Bloom is snubbed once more, when he points out to John Henry Menton that his hat is dented.

Bloom's attendance at Dignam’s funeral corresponds in Homer to Odysseus’ descent to Hades.

Ulysses: Download/Stream/Subscribe  |  Reading Ulysses: Episode 6


Episode 7 - Aeolus  

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It is noon. Bloom has returned to the city after the funeral and is in the offices of the Weekly Freeman. Red Murray gives him a copy of an advertisement for the firm of Alexander Keyes, which Bloom wants to have renewed. The business manager, Councillor Nannetti, asks to see the design of the advertisement. Bloom goes to the office of The Evening Telegraph, which is in another part of the building, to phone Keyes. Here he finds Simon Dedalus, Ned Lambert, Professor MacHugh, JJ O'Molloy, Lenehan and the editor Myles Crawford. Just as Bloom has left to meet Keyes, Stephen Dedalus arrives with O'Madden Burke. Stephen gives Deasy’s letter to the editor and is in turn asked to write something for the paper. Talk turns to the Invincibles, advocates of the past and a speech, which JF Taylor made in favour of the Irish language. Stephen suggests that they adjourn for a drink and on the way he relates the Parable of the Plums. Bloom arrives back at the worst possible moment and is brusquely dismissed by Crawford.

In Homer, Aeolus/Crawford gives Odysseus/Bloom all unfavourable winds tied in a bag, but within sight of home the crew open the bag and the ship is driven way off course. When Odysseus goes back to Aeolus he is rudely sent away.

Ulysses: Download/Stream/Subscribe  |  Reading Ulysses: Episode 7


Episode 8 - Lestrygonians  

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It is near one o'clock and Bloom is on his way to copy the Keyes advertisement from the newspaper files in the National Library. Near Lemon's sweetshop he is handed a throwaway announcing the coming of a preacher, Alexander Dowie. In Westmoreland Street he meets Mrs Breen, once Molly’s rival for his affections. They speak of her mentally unbalanced husband and of Mrs Purefoy, who is in labour in Holles Street maternity hospital. He decides to have something to eat at the Burton restaurant. But the place is dirty and the patrons are disgusting, so he goes instead to Davy Byrne’s public house. Here Nosy Flynn asks him about the upcoming concert tour and whether or not Blazes Boylan is mixed up with it. Bloom says that he is, orders a glass of burgundy and a gorgonzola sandwich and recalls how happy he was when he courted Molly on Howth Head. On his way to the National Library he sees Boylan in the distance and in his confusion he rushes across the road to take refuge in the Museum, which is opposite the Library.

In Homer, the Lestrygonians, who are cannibals, endanger the lives of the followers of Odysseus.

Ulysses: Download/Stream/Subscribe  |  Reading Ulysses: Episode 8


Episode 9 - Scylla and Charybdis  

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It is two o'clock in the National Library. In episode seven we left Stephen on his way to Mooney's public house with his friends from the newspaper office. He sent a telegram to Mulligan cancelling his 12.30 pm appointment at The Ship. Now he is in the National Library and is about to recount his theory of Hamlet to a few literary acquaintances - Lyster, the Librarian, Best and Magee (aka John Eglinton), Assistant Librarians, and George Russell (aka AE). The theory is that, in writing the play, Shakespeare identified himself not with Hamlet but with the dead king, whose life was analogous to his own in so far as it is alleged that Shakespeare’s wife, Ann Hathaway, had committed adultery with his brothers. While Stephen is expounding his theory Mulligan arrives and makes fun of it and of Stephen. Meantime, Bloom arrives to copy the advertisement from the Kilkenny People and as Mulligan and Stephen leave the Library, Bloom goes out between them. This is the first meeting that day of Bloom and Stephen.

In Homer, Odysseus must steer safely between the multi-headed monster, Scylla, and the whirlpool, Charybdis. Just as Stephen, when expounding his theory, must steer between Platonic metaphysics and Aristotelian logic, and Bloom, on his way out of the Library, must pass between Stephen and Mulligan.

Ulysses: Download/Stream/Subscribe  |  Reading Ulysses: Episode 9


Episode 10 - Wandering Rocks  

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In the first nine episodes, the first half of the novel, we are shown the problems that beset the lives of Stephen and Bloom. In the second part we will see how they find solutions to these difficulties. By now it is between 3 and 4 o'clock and this episode gives a picture, in nineteen vignettes, of Dublin and its inhabitants. It is an entr'acte between the two halves of the novel.      

The nineteen parts are framed by the first and the last, which represent the Church and the State. The episode opens with Father Conmee setting out from the presbytery of Gardiner Street Jesuit church for Artane to have Paddy Dignam’s son accepted into the Christian Brothers’ orphanage there. In the final part, the Viceroy, William Humble, Earl of Dudley, drives from the Viceregal Lodge in the Phoenix Park to Ballsbridge to open the Mirus Bazaar. Fr Conmee moves across the north of the city while the Viceroy travels across the south. The other seventeen parts show various characters, most of whom we have met in previous episodes of the novel, going about their various business routines.

ere the Homeric element is very slight and corresponds to Circe telling Odysseus to avoid the wandering rocks which might sink his ship.

Ulysses: Download/Stream/Subscribe  |  Reading Ulysses: Episode 10


Episode 11 - Sirens  

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It is nearly 4 o'clock. As Bloom walks along by the Liffey he decides to answer Martha Clifford's letter and buys some stationery. From the shop he sees Boylan and wonders if he is going to see Molly after all. Bloom goes into the Ormond Hotel with Richie Goulding to have lunch and to watch Boylan who has come there to meet Lenehan. Boylan leaves to keep his appointment with Molly at four o’clock without seeing Bloom. Simon Dedalus is persuaded to sing 'M’appari’ from the opera Martha. It is a song of lost love and Bloom, who is about to reply to Martha, is miserable as he thinks of Molly. As he writes he realises that Martha is of no interest to him. His meal finished he stays to hear Ben Dollard sing The Croppy Boy, a ballad of betrayal. By this time Bloom is aware that Boylan would have arrived at Molly’s house.

In Homer, Odysseus/Bloom has himself tied to the mast and the ears of his crew closed with wax so that the songs of the Sirens/Barmaids cannot seduce them.

Ulysses: Download/Stream/Subscribe  |  Reading Ulysses: Episode 11


Episode 12 - Cyclops  

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It is about five o'clock. The nameless narrator meets Joe Hynes and the two go to Barney Kiernan's public house on Little Britain Street to meet the Citizen. They find him sitting in the corner with a sheaf of papers 'working for the cause’. Bloom, who has an appointment with Martin Cunningham to settle Dignam’s insurance, comes in. He refuses a drink but accepts a cigar. The talk turns to capital punishment and the Citizen, who is anti-Semitic, speaks of revolutionaries and martyrs and he rants about foreigners coming into the country. He spits when Bloom says that he is Irish. Bloom goes out to look for Martin Cunningham but Lenehan spreads the word that Bloom had a bet on Throwaway and has gone to collect his winnings. When Bloom returns and does not offer to buy drinks, things become difficult. Cunningham gauges the situation and jostles Bloom out to a waiting car. When Bloom asserts that Christ was a Jew like him, the Citizen loses his temper and throws a biscuit tin after the departing car but misses. 

In Homer, Odysseus/Bloom is held captive by the one-eyed giant Polyphemus/Citizen but escapes, having blinded him with a burning stick/ Bloom's cigar. Polyphemus/Citizen throws a rock/biscuit tin at the departing ship but misses it.

Ulysses: Download/Stream/Subscribe  |  Reading Ulysses: Episode 12


Episode 13 - Nausicaa  

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It is around 8 o'clock and, having completed his business in the Dignam house, Bloom has come down to Sandymount strand to sit and relax. Nearby on the beach are a group of girls, Gerty MacDowell, Cissy Caffrey, Edy Boardman, Cisssy's two brothers, Tommy and Jacky, and Baby Boardman. Gerty is slight, beautiful, rather aloof and fond of romantic fantasies. Cissy is outspoken and embarrasses Gerty by speaking of the baby’s 'beetoteetom’ loudly enough for Bloom to hear. A temperance retreat is being conducted in the nearby Star of the Sea church and the recitation of the litany can be heard in the background. The boys kick the ball and Bloom sends it back to Gerty who tries vainly to kick it. She realises that Bloom is watching her. She takes off her hat to show off her hair and to look at Bloom under the brim. The fireworks start and the others leave Gerty alone with Bloom as they move off for a better view. As she watches a Roman candle, Gerty leans back further and further until Bloom can see her underwear. He masturbates while looking at this display and she realises what is happening. The others call her and as she walks away Bloom sees that she is lame. It is getting dark and the Howth goes on and Bloom thinks once again of Molly. He writes 'I AM A’ with a stick in the sand and falls asleep as the cuckoo clock in the priest’s house nearby strikes the hour.

In Homer, Princess Nausicaa/Gerty comes to the beach with her friends and while playing ball they find Odysseus/Bloom washed up by the waves. Nausicaa takes care of Odysseus and brings him home.

Ulysses: Download/Stream/Subscribe  |  Reading Ulysses: Episode 13


Episode 14 - Oxen of the Sun         

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Because it is written in so many styles of English, this is a very difficult episode to read. It is about 10 pm. Bloom has come from Sandymount to Holles Street maternity hospital to enquire after Mrs Purefoy, who has been in labour for three days. His friend Nurse Callan tells Bloom that she has never seen so hard a birth. A medical student, Dixon, who treated Bloom's bee sting when he was in the Mater hospital, invites Bloom to have something to eat. Inside, with Dixon, he finds Lynch, Madden, Costello, Lenehan, Crotthers and Stephen Dedalus. There is a thunderstorm and Stephen is terrified and only Bloom tries to calm him. Mulligan arrives with Bannon, who is Milly's student friend. Nurse Callan tells Dixon that Mrs Purefoy has, at last, been delivered of a boy. Suddenly, near eleven o’clock, Stephen shouts 'Burke’s’ and everyone rushes to the public house. Stephen buys drinks for everyone. Mulligan slips off to meet Haines in Westland Row station and Bannon realises that Bloom is Milly’s father. Stephen and Lynch decide to go to a brothel and Bloom follows them.

In the Homeric correspondence, Odysseus/Bloom warns his followers against killing any of the sacred cattle on the Island of the Sun but they disobey him. Later a thunderbolt hits the ship and everyone except Odysseus is killed.

Ulysses: Download/Stream/Subscribe  |  Reading Ulysses: Episode 14


Episode 15 - Circe  

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This episode is by far the longest in the book and is written in dramatic form with stage directions. Since the characters are either drunk or very tired it is difficult for the reader to distinguish between what is actuality and what is hallucination. Set out below is a summary of the action of the episode.

It is about midnight and Stephen and Lynch have come on the train from Westland Row to Mabbot Street, which is the entrance to the brothel quarter. The scene opens with a group of stunted men and women milling around an ice cream cart. A girl like Cissy Caffrey appears with two British soldiers, Privates Carr and Compton. Stephen sings the Introit of a Mass as he walks along the street. Shortly afterwards, Bloom comes rushing up Talbot Street. He had been delayed and has chocolate and bread, and now he buys a sheep's trotter and a crubeen. An old hag grabs his sleeve but he shakes her off and goes in search of Stephen and Lynch. At Bella Cohen's he meets Zoe Higgins who discovers a potato in his pocket and takes it. They go into the house and find Stephen and Lynch with two other whores, Kitty and Florry. Stephen is at the piano and probably because he is dressed like a minister, one of the whores asks if he is in Maynooth seminary. Bloom hears someone coming down the stairs and he wonders if it is Boylan. Bella Cohen, the brothel keeper comes in and overawes Bloom and he hallucinates. When the back button of his trousers snaps he returns to reality, gets his potato back from Zoe and is no longer afraid of Mrs Cohen. She demands to be paid and Stephen gives her two pounds. Bloom then gives her ten shillings and retrieves a pound note. He then takes charge of Stephen’s money. Stephen tells of a dream he had during the previous night. Privates Carr and Compton pass with their girl singing 'My Girl’s a Yorkshire Girl’. Zoë turns on the pianola and Stephen starts to dance. Suddenly he thinks he sees his mother, goes pale and stops. One of the girls is going to get water for him when he strikes out with his ash plant and breaks the mantle on the lamp. He rushes out of the house and most of the others follow him. Mrs Cohen demands ten shillings for the damage but Bloom throws her a shilling and goes after Stephen. A row starts when Stephen speaks, in the absence of the two soldiers, to their girl. Stephen speaks of killing the priest and king and Private Carr takes this as an insult to Edward VII and knocks Stephen down. Lynch now slips away. Two policemen arrive but Corny Kelleher is able to save Stephen. As Bloom takes care of Stephen, the ghost of his dead son, Rudy, appears.

In Homer, the witch, Circe/Bella Cohen, transforms Odysseus' men into swine. Odysseus is not affected by her enchantments and overcomes her.

Ulysses: Download/Stream/Subscribe  |  Reading Ulysses: Episode 15


Episode 16 - Eumeus

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It is 1 am on the morning of 17 June. Bloom helps Stephen to his feet. Stephen wants something to drink so they set out for the cabman's shelter near the Liffey. Bloom gives Stephen some fatherly advice and points out how all of his companions have deserted him. At the loopline railway bridge, Corley, who figures in the story 'Two Gallants' in Dubliners, accosts Stephen and tells him his hard luck story. Stephen lends him half-a-crown. Bloom speaks of Mulligan’s bad behaviour at Westland Row station where there seems to have been a quarrel in which Stephen’s hand was hurt. In the shelter Bloom buys Stephen coffee and a bun. A sailor asks Stephen his name and claims to have known a Simon Dedalus who was a sharpshooter in Hengler’s Royal Circus in Stockholm. He tells a number of other unlikely stories about his travels. Talk turns on maritime affairs and Skin-the-Goat, who is in charge of the shelter and was one of the Invincibles, says that Britain is exploiting Ireland. The sailor’s counter claim that the Irish are the backbone of the Empire is not well received by those in the shelter. Bloom pays the bill and invites Stephen to come home with him. Stephen agrees because he has nowhere else to go. On the way to Eccles Street, the two talk of music and poetry, but, although the discussion is friendly, there is no meeting of minds.

In the Homeric correspondence Odysseus/Bloom returns home to Ithaca/Eccles Street, disguised as a beggar. He goes to the hut of the swineherd Eumaeus/Skin-the-Goat and tells a false story of his travels. When Telemachus/Stephen arrives they set off for home together to destroy the suitors of Penelope/Molly.

Ulysses: Download/Stream/Subscribe  |  Reading Ulysses: Episode 16


Episode 17 - Ithaca  

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It is about 2 am when Stephen and Bloom set out for Eccles Street. They discuss many subjects but have little appear to have little in common. On arrival at his home Bloom has to climb over the railings and get in through the area door because he has forgotten his key. He brings Stephen down to the kitchen. He makes Epp's cocoa in identical cups but gives the cream to Stephen. Bloom brings up various subjects for discussion in the hope of finding something of mutual interest. Stephen turns down an offer to stay for the night. They go into the garden at the back of the house and look at the stars and urinate before Stephen departs. Back in the house, Bloom finds that all of the furniture in the parlour has been moved during the day. He lights a cone of incense, does his accounts and adds the letter he got that day to the other three he already has from Martha Clifford. In bed with Molly he feels the imprint of Boylan and the crumbs of potted meat. He kisses her rump and gives her an edited version of his day. He does not mention the letter from Martha, the row at Barney Kiernan's or his encounter with Gerty MacDowell. Then he goes asleep.

In Homer, Odysseus/Bloom and Telemachus/Stephen destroy the suitors who have plagued Penelope for so long. In the novel the victory achieved is a mental one.

Ulysses: Download/Stream/Subscribe  |  Reading Ulysses: Episode 17


Episode 18 - Penelope  

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Here are the thoughts of Molly as she lies in bed beside Bloom, who is asleep. It is about 2.30 am. She reviews her entire life but concentrates on two aspects of it - her affair with Boylan and the state of her relationship with Bloom. She is surprised that Bloom has asked for breakfast in bed. She knows that he suspects her of having an affair but he has no proof.  She thinks that Bloom is lucky to have her as his wife. Then she remembers how she first saw Boylan in the DBC Café in Dame Street and how she will be with him during following week in Belfast, while Bloom is in Ennis. She bemoans her lack of money and good clothes and Bloom's inability the hold down a job. She remembers Boylan sucking her breasts earlier in the day and how Bloom is incapable of even frying a kidney. She is impatient to see Boylan again. She regrets that so few people write to her, in Gibraltar she even wrote to herself. Lieutenant Mulvey's was the first letter she ever got and she pretended to him that she was to be married to Don Miguel del la Flora. Mulvey gave her the Claddagh ring, which she later gave to Lieutenant Gardner. Her period comes on and she wonders if there is something wrong with her, as it is only three weeks since the last one. She is sixteen years married and she recalls all the moves they have made and all the jobs Bloom has had. The remembrance of how Simon Dedalus once flirted with her turns her thoughts to Stephen. He was in the cards that morning. She calculates his age and thinks that she would not be too old to be his lover. Boylan is crude when she compares him to Stephen. She remembers her Rudy’s conception and decides to give Bloom one more chance. Then, like Bloom earlier in the day, she thinks about their lovemaking on Howth Head and how she said 'YES’.

In the Homeric correspondence Penelope/Molly is the faithful wife who stays at home waiting for her husband to return from his wanderings.

Ulysses:  Download/Stream/Subscribe  |  Reading Ulysses: Episode 18


The 1982 Raidio Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ) production of James Joyce's 'Ulysses' was recorded by Marcus Mac Donald and directed by William Styles. 

'Ulysses'  was performed by the RTÉ Players featuring Pegg Monahan, Patrick Dawson, Ronnie Walsh, Brendan Cauldwell, Aiden Grennell, Thomas Studley, Peter Dix, Conor Farrington, Déirdre O'Meara, Gerald Fitzmahony, Daphne Carroll, Denis Brennan, Cathryn Brennan, Liam O'Callaghan, Seamus Forde, Gerry McArdle, Jim Reid, Denis Staunton, Breandán Ó Dúill, Ivan Hanly, Colm Hefferon, Eoin White, Neasa Ní Annracháin, Colette Proctor, Barbara McCaughey, Kate Minogue, Eileen Colgan, Christopher Casson, Joe Taylor, Brendan Conroy, Marcella O'Riordan, Joan Plunkett, Laurence Foster, Eamon Keane and Jack O'Brien. The text consultant was Roland McHugh. 

The Executive Producer was Micháel Ó hAodha and in 1982 P.J.O'Connor was The Head of Drama and Variety at RTÉ.

Episode synopses written by Gerry O'Flaherty in 2004.

Buíochas don Lannan Foundation, Leabharlann Náisiúnta Na hÉireann (National Library of Ireland), James Joyce Centre, Gerry O'Flaherty and Fritz Senn, Ed Mulhall, Ann Marie O'Callaghan, Pearl Quinn, Kilian Gordon, Robert Canning, Brian Rice agus Cartlann RTÉ (RTÉ Archives). 

Buíochas ar leith to the families and friends of the artistes who made this production.

The RTÉ Drama On One production team in 2020 were Gorretti Slavin, Jan Ní Fhlanagáin, Kevin Brew, Aidan Mathews, Shane Murphy, Jim Jennings, Joseph Hoban, Derek O'Connor, Nigel Wheatley, Erik Threlfall, Jim Manning, Mark Hennessy, Shane Kelleher and Kevin Reynolds.

The Series Producer of RTÉ Drama On One is Kevin Reynolds.


Reading Ulysses

Listen to the 'Reading Ulysses' here. Hosted by Gerry O'Flaherty and Fritz Senn, the series explores the book episode by episode and includes an introductory programme with contributions from Edna O'Brien and Joseph O'Connor, and a programme hosted by Bernard Clarke and featuring Barry McGovern on the music in the book. The series is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or RTÉ.ie/radio.

Explore all of RTÉ's James Joyce and Ulysses content at rte.ie/ulysses.